Ice cubing machine



Aug. 29, 1939.

D. G. CAMPBELL ICE CUBING IAGHINB Filed April 30, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR AugL29,19s9. DGCAMPBELL 2,17 64 ICE CUBING MACHINE ATTORNEYS Aug. 29, 1939. D. G. CAMPBELL ICE GUBING mcflma Filed April 50, '19s? s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR BY 5 n M I TTORNEYS Patented Aug. 29, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ICE CUBING MACHINE Donald G. Campbell, New York, N. Y. Application April 30, 1937, Serial No. 139,959

3 Claims. (01. 143-33) The invention herein. relates to a machine for so that they may be spaced properly relative to subdividing material into pieces of desired shape saw l2. Removably mounted on frame l8 are and is particularly applicable to the cutting of spindles or shafts l6 on which saw arbors I! are bulk material wherein a plurality of cuts are rotatably mounted. The saw arbors are provided required to produce smaller pieces of a given size. with guides 9 in which band saws l I are mounted, 5,

An object of the present invention is a mathese being two sets of saws arranged at right chine wherein the cutting devices are so alined angles to one another the saws traversing the that the material to be cut need not be shifted guideway and producing vertical cuts in the mafrom one position to another. A further object is terial A. The saw arbors I! are provided with 10 a device wherein all operations may be performed gears I9 which intermesh to form a driving con- 10 from a single power source. A still further object nection with a driven gear 20 which is splined on is a device wherein any or all of a combination power shaft 22. The power shaft 22 centrally of cuts in different planes may be readily accomlocated relative to the machine is driven by any plished. A still further object is a device wherein suitable means such as a motor 24.

the size of cuts may be varied. These and other concentrically mounted on the power shaft 22 15,-

objects will be readily understood from the folbeneath the frame i8 is a receiving table l0 comlowing description with reference to the accomprising a webbed member 28 having secured therepanying drawings wherein: on an inner ring 34 and peripheral ring 39 be- Fig. 1 is a side elevation partly in section of tween which are suspended radial rods 3! on one embodiment; which are rotatably mounted rollers 32. The car- 20 Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1; rier member 28 is also provided with a radial arm Fig. 3 is a partial front elevation of Fig. 1; 36 terminating in a bracket 31 on which is car- Fig. 4 is a detail of the drive mechanism; ried a supporting member 38 in which shaft 40 Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show an alternative cutting of the horizontal saw I 2 is journaled. Member device; and e 38 is secured by bolt 39 to bracket 31, the bracket 25 Figs. 8 and 9 show another alternative cutting having an elongated slot M to permit vertical device. adjustment of member 38, relative to table It.

Referring to the drawings, the machine in gen- Splined on the lower end of shaft 49 are gears eral comprises a supporting structure 2, a plu- 44, 4B and 48, the gear 48 being interconrality of members 4 forming a guideway for posinected through a chain belt 52 with a gear 59 tioning the material or object to be cut, and holdon power shaft 22. Suitable spacing members ing it in fixed position, a plurality o Cutting 55 may be interposed between gear 44 and memdeViceS 8 arranged to traverse the guideway and her 38 for vertical adjustment purposes. There produce vertical cuts, a revolving receiving table is also provided a rack 59 having a (10111016 track [0 adapted to receive and limit the movement of 50 and 62 the gear 44 meshing with the track 52 the material after Pasting Partially Passing and the gear 46 meshing with track 69, with the through the cutting devices 8, and a rotating saw gears successively engaging the rack to Simu1 restart titers:time? :3; 'g

' h f at di ran it a it 233E21 til f fiti 53$ ifrffiil t iiieigsig 1:31: t? approximately the .Size saw F mm dependently rotatable about its own axis, the an F f g g fi g may table being provided with an opening beneath saw drop m 0 a c u e mm W c may 6 H to permit the cut material to drop there moved, the chute being padded with rubber or through. For simplicity in drawings only one set the like if l material is being 45 of vertical cutting saws and one horizontal saw F the handhng of heavy bulk mfltenal there have been Shown, it being apparent that due to is provided an upright 62 having a swiveled crossthe circular nature of the table 1 a plurality head 64 carrying suitable pulleys 66 over which of such cutting devices could be used a hoisting line 68 is passed, one end of the hoist- 50 The supporting Structure 2 includes the ing line carrying a pair of tongs l0 and the other tangular frame I8 which carries the uprights 4, a counter-balance The tongs 79 are prothese uprights forming a guideway for material V ded With a pair of ear portions 14 which are to be out such as the cake of ice A, the uprights adapted to contact the trip hooks 16 as the ma- 4 being frictionally held in grooves in frame I8 terial is lowered during the cutting operation 55 whereupon the ears 14 will release the tongs Til from the material A.

In operation the motor 24 drives power shaft 22 and gear 20, which, meshing with the gears I9 on arbors II, cause rotation of the band saws II. As the saws II produce their vertical cuts the ice will be lowered onto the rollers 32 of the receiving table I0. Simultaneously gear 48 through chain 52 causes rotation of the drive shaft 40 and saw I2 and through either gear 44 or gear 46 meshing with the rack 59, simultaneously revolves receiving table It and saw I2 about power shaft 22 and independently rotate saw l2 about its own shaft M3 and independently rotates saw I2 about its own shaft 4E3. As the guides t will position and prevent the material from being moved, table ID will move under same until saw I2 is brought into contact with the material. In order that the saw will not be driven through the ice at too great a rate of speed gear M is brought into mesh with track 62 at this point and at the same time gear 46 is taken out of mesh with track 60, whereby the speed of the revolution of saw I2 about the power shaft 22 will be reduced to permit saw I2 to move slowly through the material. After saw I2 has passed completely through the bulk material A will again descend onto the rollers 32 and gear 46 having again meshed with track 69 and gear .4 having gone out of mesh with track 62, the saw will again be carried rapidly around into cutting position. From the foregoing, it will be seen that as the material is placed onto the saws I2 it will be cut transversely at 90 to one another to form vertical columns and upon descending onto the table ID the saw I2 will cut the vertical columns horizontally into small cubes. In handling heavy material, the material may be lifted by the tongs Ill and the counterbalance I2 on the end of line 68 be attached, the weight of the counterbalance being less than that of the bulk material so that the initial weight resting on the saws will not be too great but still great enough to cause the object to feed through the machine. As the material is cut down to approximately the weight of the counterbalance T2 the tongs will be tripped to release same. The tongs III, upright 62 and counterbalance 12 may be eliminated and if desired the entire machine may be built with the shaft 22 on an angle to the vertical whereby the material may be fed into the guideway formed by the members 4 which will support the weight of the same and the receiving table I0 limit the movement thereof.

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the band saws and arbors are replaced by a set of drive shafts 80 on which are mounted eccentric cams 82 to drive blades 86, the blades formed at one end with an eccentric strap 88 and at the other a tongue 9% which permits the blade to reciprocate freely on a supporting shaft 82. The ends of the drive shafts 80 are provided with gears 93 and M adapted to mesh with a beveled gear 95 which may replace the gear 20 on the main drive shaft 22. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 8 and 9 there are provided circular saws 97; mounted on arbors 96, the arbors being provided with suitable intermeshing gears 98 which are driven from a gear I00 carried by an extension of the main shaft 22. The arbors are supported on suitable bearings I02 which are raised a distance above frame I8 equal to the diameter of the largest saw.

From. the foregoing it may be seen that the entire mechanism may be operated from a. single power shaft. The size of the cuts may be varied due to the vertical adjustment of saw I2 and the ready replacement of the various traverse cutting units. By removing the traverse cutting means the machine may be used for horizontal cutting only.

With such modifications contemplated and the preferred embodiment shown the following is claimed:

1. A cutting machine of the class described comprising a frame, a plurality of members carried by said frame and forming a guideway for the object to be cut, saw arbors carried by said frame, saws carried by said arbors and traversing the guideway, a power shaft, gears connecting said shaft and arbors for operating the saws, a receiving table, a support for the table rotatably mounted on the power shaft, an arm extending from said support, a saw shaft supported by said arm at the outer end thereof, a rotatable saw carried by said saw shaft above the table, a plurality of gears splined on the lower end of the saw shaft, a driving connection between one of the gears and, the power shaft for rotating the saw about its own axis, and a rack adapted to engage another of the gears whereby rotation of the shaft will simultaneously revolve the table and saw about another axis.

2. In a machine of the class described, a supporting frame, a plurality of guide members carried by said frame and defining a guideway, a plurality of saw carrying devices carried by said frame, a plurality of saws carried by said devices alined with the guideway, a centrally located power shaft, driving means for rotating said devices connecting to the power shaft, a circular receiving table beneath said frame, a journaled support on said shaft for carrying said table, a horizontal cutting saw intermediate of the table and the frame, an arm extending from the table for eccentrically carrying said saw relative to the table, a drive shaft for the saw, power means for rotating said saw shaft from the power shaft, reducing gears carried on said saw shaft, a rack meshing with said reducing gears for revolving the table, and power means for operatingsaid power shaft.

3. A cutting machine of the class described, comprising a frame, a guideway carried by the frame, a plurality of saw-carrying devices supported on the frame, a plurality of saws carried by said devices and aligned with the guideway, a centrally located driven shaft, driving means for rotating said devices connecting to the driven a shaft, a circular receiving table beneath said frame rotatably mounted on said driven shaft, a horizontal cutting saw intermediate of the table and the frame, an arm extending from the table for eccentrically carrying said saw relative to the table, a drive shaft for the saw, power means for rotating said saw shaft from the driven shaft, reducing gears carried on said saw shaft, and a rack meshing with said reducing gears for revolving the table, and power means for operating said driven shaft.

DONALD G. CAMPBELL. 

